1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns videocassette tape spools.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Each of the Betamax and VHS videocassettes has a pair of tape spools loosely positioned side-by-side within the cassette housing. When the cassette is inserted into a videotape recorder, a pair of spindles fit into interior teeth of the hubs of the spools and press the spools against a spring which is mounted in the cassette. The spring has two arms, each of which contacts a wear button on each of the tape spools.
It is desirable to provide for automatic assembly of the tape spools for economical manufacture and provisions for disassembly should be provided so that spools may be reused if the recording tape is damaged during assembly. A tape spool was described in Wulfing U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,969, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, which included a single piece providing the spool hub and one flange, a disk providing the second flange and a separate piece which simultaneously provided the wear button and the means for retaining the second flange in assembled contact with the hub. The spool of U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,969 unfortunately had a propensity for spontaneous disassembly when subjected to rough handling, particularly when subjected to shocks which tended to force the second flange in a radial direction with respect to the hub.